Nature Reviews Neuroscience, Vol. 2, No. 10. (01 October 2001), pp. 727-733.

In the classical model of G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) regulation, arrestins terminate receptor signalling. After receptor activation, arrestins desensitize phosphorylated GPCRs, blocking further activation and initiating receptor internalization. This function of arrestins is exemplified by studies on the role of arrestins in the development of tolerance to, but not dependence on, morphine. Arrestins also link GPCRs to several signalling pathways, including activation of the non-receptor tyrosine kinase SRC and mitogen-activated protein kinase. In these cascades, arrestins function as adaptors and scaffolds, bringing sequentially acting kinases into proximity with each other and the receptor. The signalling roles of arrestins have been expanded even further with the discovery that the formation of stable receptor–arrestin complexes initiates photoreceptor apoptosis in Drosophila, leading to retinal degeneration. Here we review our current understanding of arrestin function, discussing both its classical and newly discovered roles.
Kristen Pierce, Robert Lefkowitz

The favourite new drug of clubbers and schoolchildren hit the headlines last week when two young men died after taking it. Sold under a range of street names – meph, miaow miaow, MC, drone and bubbles – and easily available on the web, mephedrone is not illegal. But should it be? Here, four people from different sides of the debate – a user, a mother, a dealer and a doctor – have their say on 'the poor man's cocaine'

The user: Jack Starks

The first time I encountered mephedrone, meow meow, plant food or whatever you want to call it, was about a year ago at a friend's house in south London. We were back from a night out at the student union and all wanting to continue the party when my friend's flatmate, Brandon, got back from work and, with a sly smile, disappeared into his bedroom, to return with a huge box. He dumped the biggest pile of powder I had ever seen on the table. "This, my friends, is mephedrone," he said with relish. "And this is the future."

Like many students, I've never been one to say no to a new experience. We all end up running into drugs at some point, so I decided to see what all the fuss was about. I've always enjoyed a spliff and, on occasion, a little more, so I assumed this was just another casual substance I would be bumping into.

Nicknamed by users as "poor man's cocaine", mephedrone has swept through our nation's youth like a strong dose of salts, permeating every aspect of the party and night club scene. In less than six months, it has come from obscurity; everyone knows someone who's on it. Paradoxically, it was given a chance to become popular because of an EU restriction that prevented the importation of two substances necessary to the production of MDMA (ecstasy to the layman) that made it impossible to make or purchase any MDMA in Britain from late 2008. Mephedrone filled the gap in the market, and at half the cost of MDMA; it was everywhere.

You can snort it, drop it in "bombs" (rolling papers filled with it), and I've even come across people who eat it. The effect is euphoric, in some ways similar to ecstasy but much shorter-lived; you need to take a lot more of it a lot more often. The first time I took it, I could feel my heart pounding; everything seemed as if it was about to explode into life and I was up till the early hours in a wild rampage of excitement. But there any comparison ends. With mephedrone, the romance period is very short: after taking it just a couple of times, your tolerance increases dramatically, to the point that you're doing three or four times more than you were in the beginning to get high. Your appetite for the stuff also increases.

Brandon was well ahead of the curve. He was importing it from China at about a £1 a gram and selling it to students at £15. By mid-October, when our student loans had still failed to appear and finance was getting tight, we hit on the idea of doing the same. We could simply make a trip down to a seedy office in Victoria where we could buy it in bulk at wholesale price and then sell it on to our friends at a profit. Doing this you could turn £100 into £400 in a weekend and have a bit left on the side for yourself.

It became a crash course in drug dealing for beginners, and we weren't the only ones at it. Hundreds of students had spotted the gap in the market. You couldn't set foot in a club or house-party without someone walking past offering you "drone".

Whether or not this was legal is a good question, because although mephedrone isn't covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act, it is illegal to sell it for human consumption. Companies get round this by putting stickers on their product saying just that. When selling it, we would always tell people that it was not to be used to get high – it was almost a running joke. A very dangerous joke indeed.

When on it, you get very edgy (hence the comparison to cocaine) and you constantly crave more. It is possibly the most addictive substance I have ever come across. What makes it far more dangerous is that it is the first of a new breed of designer drugs, made purely to evade the laws surrounding controlled substances.

No one has considered what this will do to people in the short or the long term, and no one cares. Mephedrone might be called "plant food", but it is a plant decomposer, so what it does to your insides I dread to think. I once accidentally left a spoon in a bag of the stuff and came back three days later to find it had stripped off the outer coating and my mephedrone scattered with tiny silver bits of spoon. We still snorted it.

My stance was changed dramatically by my experience of prolonged use. After three or so months of using it at least a couple of times a week, I found myself in the darkest depression. I stopped taking it and suddenly found myself looking round at my friends with their eyes rolling in their heads and realised how much rubbish we had all been talking to each other. Good, straight-edge kids who barely used to drink have become crazed drug fiends, sitting in their house snorting plant food five days a week.

One friend of mine took it once and now has to use an inhaler, because he has permanently damaged his lungs. Another has almost ceased to be a friend, and is now a socially apathetic zombie, chasing mephedrone around London with his girlfriend, no longer able to interact without it, constantly asking if he can borrow 20 quid.

We've always been happy to get wasted on a night out, but I've never seen anything creep into so many everyday lives like this. I am horrified by the effect this drug has had on the people around me, and would urge anyone thinking about taking some tonight to change their plans.

Jack Starks is a student in his early 20s who lives in south London

The mother: Sophie Radice

For all those parents who have read with sadness about the deaths of an 18-year-old and a 19-year-old in Scunthorpe, but allowed themselves to be even slightly reassured that their own teenagers can't have come across mephedrone because they are so much younger, not yet clubbing and living very different lives, think again.

I first heard about mephedrone six months ago, at first from another north London mother whose son had ordered this "plant food" off the internet and who had roused her suspicions when he couldn't explain why he had suddenly developed an interest in gardening.

Then from my own daughter, aged 14 at the time, whose friends had discovered this legal high. She described them as "talking rubbish as if it is the most interesting thing in the world, and that they dribble and lick their lips and gurn and grind their teeth".

She said that people shook, bit holes in their lips and cheeks, were unable to feel their legs, were frightened because their heart was beating too fast and that their skin looked grey.

This might seem like any teenage group that has discovered harder drugs. It is rather like a description of my own group of friends at that age. What is different is that, in those six months, those friends who thought they were just experimenting seemed to need to take greater amounts of mephedrone on more and more occasions. Mephedrone is often sold in five gram bags and, as it is so "more-ish", it seems to be easy – even common – for a user to go through a whole bag.

Surely that kind of ever-decreasing, short-lived high is what makes dealers extremely rich and leads to the kind of desperate endless addiction of the crack-user?

Should all of this mean that we should immediately ban it? Well, I have always had a liberal view about drugs, believing that the criminalisation of drugs just creates an underground. I look at how making ketamine (a horse tranquilliser) a class C drug didn't stop its use among the young.

On an intellectual level, I agree with Professor David Nutt's measured suggestion of creating a "holding" class of D drug category. Within this category, sales would be limited to over-18s; the product would be quality-controlled, at doses limited as far as possible to safe levels; and it would come with health education messages. I also agree with Nutt that what we should look into is why teenagers are so drawn to taking drugs and why binge-drinking is so prevalent in this age group.

On a much more visceral, instinctive level, this "let's wait and see how harmful this drug is" D category doesn't comfort me at all. For this younger age group, the legality of mephedrone is a real attraction. While they can get hold of "weed" to smoke (mostly through older siblings, and even parents), because they are not yet going to clubs but to each other's houses or private parties they are rarely able to get their hands on harder drugs.

They can buy mephedrone off the internet or from headshops (shops selling drug paraphernalia) or stalls. Teenagers of this age seem to think that its legality means that it is safer than other drugs, which might also contribute to the wild abandon with which it is taken.

Health warnings wouldn't do a thing (my daughter says that, perversely, the deaths in Scunthorpe have made her friends even more determined to take the drug) and surely an over-18s rule on the net would be just like those porn sites that ask you to click a button to say that you are over 18 and that's all the proof you need. Prosecution of those selling to under-18s would be almost impossible in cases of website dealing.

For this age group, making mephedrone a class B drug would at least put up some sort of substantial hurdle and make it much harder for them to get hold of.

Just making it so much more difficult to track down may cause enough of a pause for some sort of easing-off from the enthusiastic consumption of what seems to be a particularly addictive drug.

Oh, and while we are waiting for a decision on this, look out for a fishy smell in your teenager's sweat, nose bleeds, restlessness, headaches, insomnia and a traces of yellowy powder on the surfaces in their room.

Sophie Radice is a journalist and mother of two who first came across the drug last year

The dealer: Mark

I have no background in narcotics. My worst offence is a puff on a joint in college, which I found unpleasant. I am at heart "anti" substance abuse, though I am in favour of free choice.

I own and run three normal, legitimate businesses, all of which, thanks to the recession, have had their troubles. Have you ever laid off a loyal member of staff? It's the worst feeling in the world. I was looking for a lifeline.

I first heard of mephedrone in September. A friend heard about a new chemical that was originally a kind of plant food. It was legal and its effects mimicked cocaine and MDMA. I started searching for information on Google and within an hour I knew this would be a winning business.

From the start, I wanted to run this completely legitimately. No shady cash deals, pay tax, give excellent service with a quality product at the right price. Was I comfortable with the concept? No. Did I want to lose my home to the bank? No. Decision made.

In the first weeks, I bought my stock inside the UK, but very quickly I began buying direct from a manufacturer in China. I registered a company and contacted a web designer.

This is where the problems started. Even before the press discovered mephedrone, it was not possible to find good professional help. Undaunted, I built my own website. No banks would touch the credit card side of the business. I fudged round this and I was up and running. I launched the website and within an hour had five sales. My first week I turned over £8,000; the second, £10,000.

Then, last November, mephedrone hit the headlines. Its use was blamed for the death of a 14-year-old girl, although this turned out not to be the case. I thought it was the end. How wrong I was. That week, sales doubled. When mephedrone is in the news, demand rockets. Last week came the death of two boys. (I cannot comment on this tragedy, except to say I do not believe mephedrone was the cause.) One of my websites, which usually gets around 1,200 hits a day, received more than 20,000. The media have made mephedrone what it is.

Before you leap to judgment, do you drink alcohol? It is deadly, with 8,000 deaths directly attributed to it in the UK in 2008. There is a huge trade in illegal drugs in the UK. But people do not have to be criminals. They don't have to buy bags of drain cleaner from dodgy blokes in pub car parks.

The process of importing has become difficult lately, as UK Customs has begun withholding shipments. I have had 40kg seized. No explanation has been given and Customs has made no contact. This is surely illegal.

Mephedrone looks likely to be banned. This is the most dangerous thing that can happen. It is essentially a very safe substance. There is no addiction and to date I know of no deaths directly attributed to it. There are suppliers online such as me who treat this as a genuine business and supply a quality product pure to the customer.

The day mephedrone is banned, I will shut up shop. The taxman will lose hundreds of thousands of pounds and the criminals will step in. Prohibition has always failed. And the genie is really out of the bottle this time. Millions have used mephedrone in the UK. If they are stopped from getting it legally, they will either buy illegally or, even worse, try something new.

No British government would have the courage to exercise the level of common sense needed to keep it legal, what with an election looming and swarms of horrified Daily Mail readers to impress. This government has already sacked the moderate, sensible and knowledgeable Dr David Nutt. Mephedrone will be banned – and be dammed.

Mark is a businessman and owner of several websites that sell mephedrone

The doctor: James Bell

I first heard about mephedrone last July. The young man sitting opposite me told me that it had just arrived on the nightclub scene. He had tried it at once. He was well-educated and from a prosperous and stable family (who knew nothing about his drug use). He was in my clinic to withdraw from another "legal high", GBL. After using GBL for a few months, he had been dismayed to discover that he had become dependent. His lament "I didn't know it was addictive" could have been uttered by most doctors and policy-makers.

We are all playing catch-up as new compounds are recognised, banned – and new drugs appear, the risks of which slowly become apparent. Legal highs are mostly compounds closely related to known (and banned) psychoactive drugs. Mephedrone is chemically very similar to ecstasy. The slight variation in structure makes it legal, but also means that mephedrone has different pharmacological effects and toxicity.

This makes difficulty for the advisory council on the misuse of drugs, which advises the government on whether a drug should be banned, as it has little information to go on. It takes experience to find out about the harms of particular drugs. It was only in the late 1990s, after years in which cannabis was regarded as a fairly harmless drug, that studies demonstrated it caused the development of psychosis in some vulnerable adolescents. News that two people died after using mephedrone suggests it may be dangerous, but we don't know enough. Mephedrone can cause cardiovascular problems, but I suspect that the post-mortem findings will identify other contributing drugs.

GBL, which was classified in December 2009, is a case study in legal highs. Many users overdose inadvertently and a small proportion progress to dependence. On trying to stop, users can experience severe withdrawal symptoms. Throughout 2009, most GPs and drug services knew nothing of GBL, and were unable to offer treatment. It was to catch up with this need that a "party drugs" clinic was established in south London . Attendees have reported that, since being banned, GBL is still readily available for same-day delivery, from internet sites outside the UK.

Mephedrone and GBL both enhance confidence and sociability and reduce sexual inhibitions. However, it is easy to lose the plot. The first dose of mephedrone produces intense euphoria, but repeated dosing produces decreasing pleasure and increasing paranoia and irritability – yet some people keep chasing the initial high until exhausted. This binge pattern of use maximises risks and minimises benefits of drug use.

A pre-election environment is a bad time to initiate a discussion about drugs policy, as there is a risk that any debate will degenerate into which party is going to ban more drugs, more rapidly. "Legal highs" are an easy target for moral outrage, precisely because they are legal and something can be done about that. More difficult is trying to address Britain's prodigious demand for drugs, legal and illegal. A non-partisan debate about reducing the harm would be valuable.

Dr James Bell is an addictions consultant at the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust

• Drugs
• Drugs policy

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With a new collection of short stories to his name and two of his plays currently showing in New York, the notoriously private Pulitzer prize-winner discusses masculinity, his battle with drink and his 'tumultuous' relationship with Jessica Lange

Where do you even begin with Sam Shepard? With his Pulitzer prize? His Oscar nomination? The fact that he's routinely described as "America's greatest living playwright?" Or if you're going to be superficial about it – and I am, just for a moment – maybe the place to start is with the image of him as the tall, taciturn test pilot, Chuck Yeager, the cowboy-ish character he played in The Right Stuff; a man whose life was spent exploring the outer edge of what is and isn't possible.

But then I speak to Patti Smith on the phone and ask her what her impression was of Sam Shepard the first time she met him back in 1970 (shortly before they began an affair), and it's the first thing she says too: "He was just everything that one could want. He was – still is – a very handsome man. And he had this animal magnetism. It was almost visceral. He was so high energy and had a real glint in his eyes. He was born for rock'n'roll. I had no idea who he was when I met him. He was a drummer in a band, the Holy Modal Rounders, at the time and he just had something in him that made him a great, great performer. I just thought he was the future of rock'n'roll. I had no idea that actually he was this great writer too." If you had to invent an all-American literary hero, he'd be something like Sam Shepard. With his slow, western drawl, and his love of the open road and the empty badlands way out west, he's always seemed like the authentic voice of a certain sort of American manhood; telling stories – of suffocating families and wretched lovers – from the forgotten, inbetween places of the American outback. He wrote the screenplay for Paris, Texas, the great, atmospheric Wim Wenders film, and played another cowboy-ish character in Robert Altman's adaptation of Shepard's stage play Fool for Love, fixing an image in the public imagination of both him and a remote, fly-blown America a world away from the metropolises on either coast. But then Sam Shepard is that man. He comes to New York for work but his heart is with his horses back at the ranch in Kentucky that he shares with the actress Jessica Lange, his partner now for nearly 30 years.

All this, then, and a literary reputation that it's hard to overstate. According to Christopher Bigsby, professor of American literature at the University of East Anglia, who I consult on the matter, he's simply the most significant playwright of the past 50 years. His biography groans with accomplishments, he's written nearly 50 plays, acted in dozens of films, directed others, and written the screenplays for still more. And then there's the books about him, the academic treatises on his art, a Cambridge companion to his work, critical exegeses of his themes, analyses of his stagecraft... oh, the list goes on and on.

The one thing he isn't, though, is much of a talker. He doesn't often give interviews but when he does he's routinely described as "taciturn" and "private"; his answers are "curt" or "terse". He's "famously press-skittish". Worse, I read time and again of how he's "notoriously protective of his privacy" and won't answer personal questions. Which is a shame because there are so many personal questions I want to ask him. About his relationship with Jessica Lange, and his time with Patti Smith, and his three children, and being on the road with Bob Dylan. He's spoken extensively about his relationship with his alcoholic father before, but not about his own drinking: last year he was arrested for driving under the influence and ordered to attend an alcohol rehabilitation programme.

He'll talk about the work but there's nothing I read which gives much sense of him as a man. I can't help but feel a pang for the journalist who asked him if, one day, he might turn their conversation into dialogue in one of his plays. "We're not having a dialogue, this is question and answers," he says curtly. "Dialogue is like jazz. Dialogue is creative.'"

I am prepared for the worst, then, and when he ambles into the restaurant he's chosen near New York's Times Square, it seems this is probably just as well.

How long have we got, I ask, while fumbling with my tape recorder.

"Well," he says sitting down and ordering tea, "that all depends on the questions."

It's a heart-sinking moment and, as it turns out, a completely misleading one. Because it transpires that Sam Shepard isn't actually cold or taciturn or intimidating at all. Or at least the Sam Shepard I meet isn't, because it turns out that there seem to be several different Shepards co-existing side by side. At one point, he says of Jessica Lange that her greatest quality, or the one that struck him most acutely when he first met her, was her modesty. "I'd never met anybody like her," he says. "She was astounding. One of the great things about her, aside from her natural beauty, which was remarkable, was her humbleness."

But he has it too. He's dressed in country clothes – a checked shirt and a nondescript jacket – and, unlike most writers, he has an outdoors complexion; a lived-in face. But what's most noticeable is his sense of humour. It's a lovely, gentle thing; he pokes fun at me, at himself; and when I listen back to the tape, I realise something more shocking still: he doesn't just laugh, and on occasion guffaw, he actually giggles. Sam Shepard is a giggler.

The private, difficult Sam Shepard is nowhere to be seen. Or at least not for a good three hours of tea drinking and conversation that is remarkably relaxed. The restaurant, an unpretentious place he's chosen, is deserted when we arrive. It gradually fills with the pre-theatre dinner crowd, becomes loud and noisy, and has started  to empty again by the time I finally blow it and ask a question too far. Nice, easy Sam vanishes instantly, replaced in a second by cautious, wary Sam. "Oh, he's a very charming guy," Patti Smith tells me. "Very compassionate and thoughtful about other people's feelings. But he's not one for bullshit either."

But then I ought to know something of the idea of two Sam Shepards, existing side by side, because it's how he wrote himself in his most famous play, True West: as two warring brothers, Austin the Hollywood screenwriter, and Lee the desert drifter, two sides of the same Sam Shepard coin, intellect versus instinct locked in an eternal battle for supremacy.

Perhaps the most astonishing thing of all about Shepard's talent is the sheer range of it. He's risen to the top of his field in almost everything he's tried his hand at, but, despite all the diversions, the acting and the directing and the music playing, he is, at heart, a writer. Who simply can't stop writing. Not one but two of his plays are currently playing in New York – Ages of the Moon, a new work, and A Lie of the Mind, a modish revival directed by Ethan Hawke. On top of which, a new collection of short stories, Day Out of Days, has just been published. It's the kind of success that most writers would maim and kill for, although it's largely beside the point, says Shepard.

"The funny thing about having all this so-called success is that behind it is a certain horrible emptiness. All this stuff is happening. And yet it is not what you are after as a writer. Even though they are relatively successful. Ages of the Moon has sold out, the book is doing well, and yet it's not The Thing. And then you're left... there's this feeling... what is it, then? And, I guess, it's the writing itself which is important."

His sheer output is evidence of Shepard's drive to write. He burst on to the off-off-Broadway scene in 1964, writing in his off-duty hours from waiting tables in the Village, enthralling his audience with his exotic tales of the badlands way out west, puncturing the greatest American myths, and he hasn't stopped writing since. It's the process, I say, not the results, that makes you happy?

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Although happy isn't the exact word. It makes you feel that you're not useless. That you're at least putting your hand in. I think without writing I would feel completely useless."

These days he seems to have it all: as much professional success as he can handle, a long and steadfast relationship, three children, the ranch in Kentucky and bolt holes in New York and New Mexico. And, in some ways, he's the American dream personified: he was born Samuel Shepard Rogers in Fort Sheridan, Illinois, the son of a second world war bomber pilot. As a child he was "Steve Rogers" but after a short stint at college studying animal husbandry he lit off across America, finally landing in New York, where he emerged as "Sam Shepard". His life is the ultimate act of self-creation; he came from nowhere, was little-read and poorly educated, and he turned himself into one of America's leading literary lights.

"And yet still feel so unfulfilled?" he says, and ponders on it for a moment or two. But then anyone with even the slenderest acquaintance with Shepard's work knows that "the American dream" is to be treated with circumspection; in Shepard's universe it's a false concept to be blown wide apart and splattered across all surfaces.

"The great thing for me, now, is that writing has become more and more interesting. Not just as a craft but as a way into things that are not described. It's a thing of discovering. That's when writing is really working. You're on the trail of something and you don't quite know what it is."

He writes on a manual typewriter, and refuses to so much as look at the internet. "I have a cellphone but I have no Google, I have no gaggle."

Really? But everything you've ever wondered, ever, is out there, I say.

"No, no, no! The things that I wonder about most are not on the internet, I promise you that."

He's still, even after all these years, he says, an outsider. "I'm inhabiting a life I'm not supposed to be in... and at certain times in my life I have felt a wrongness. And not a moral wrongness but a sense that this isn't what I was born to be doing." The writers who he responds most to are those who seem to share a sense of "aloneness", and "writing is almost a response to that aloneness which can't be answered in any other way".

For Shepard, the heart of this, seemingly, and a recurring theme in his work, is bound up with the relationship he had with his alcoholic, abusive father. It's there in True West, Fool for Love, Curse of the Starving Class, Buried Child and A Lie of the Mind, and even now, at the age of 66, it troubles him still. In Fool for Love, written almost three decades ago, the main character is haunted by the chilling possibility that he is turning into his father. Back then it was a fear; now, he says, it has become a fact.

"You think about it, you talk about it, analyse it, and then all of a sudden you have become the thing that you were most vehement against. It's very Greek. They invented this shit. Or at least gave it a name."

He's been sober, he says, since the drink-driving incident a year ago. "And prior to that I was sober for four years and then I relapsed. It's a constant struggle. It's such a knucklehead disease because you refuse to see it. It wasn't until the 90s that I actually started going to AA and made a real compact with myself to quit. And I did quit for four years. And then I picked it up again. It's like being a junkie. I think I have that sort of thing in my blood, in my psyche. I can become addicted very easily, although the curious thing is that I have two sisters who are not. So I don't know. Maybe it's just a toss of the dice."

It's the sort of thing a Sam Shepard character might say. In the new book, Day Out of Days, characters wander through the pages, lost within their own lives (one of the most memorable features a man trapped in a public toilet who is literally driven mad when he's forced to listen to Shania Twain on an endless loop). They struggle for personal agency or a sense that they're in control of their own lives.

"And they never are," he says. "That's the one thing about being an author as opposed to being in one's life is that you have the illusion that you can bring some form to it. Which is the beautiful part of it. You don't feel that you are so much in chaos. I don't know what it would be like if I didn't have some form, short stories or plays or whatever."

He feels "blessed", he says, to have discovered writing. "It fulfils something in me that I don't know how I'd serve otherwise." His father was a bright man, the winner of a Fulbright scholarship, a fluent speaker of Spanish, but he never found that outlet. Or at least the outlet he found was drink. He struggled with the return to civilian life after the war, moving his family from airbase to airbase, training as a Spanish teacher, until he was sacked for drinking, and then moving the family to Duarte, California, where he attempted to farm, his drinking increasing year by year. "The alcohol just completely deranged him," says Shepard.

Roxanne, his younger sister, told People magazine back in the 80s: "There was always this kind of facing off between them [Shepard and his father], and it was Sam who got the bad end of that. Dad was a tricky character because he was a charismatic guy when he wanted to be. And at the other side he was like a snapping turtle. With him and Sam it was that male thing. You put two virile men in a room and they're going to test each other."

It's this quality, of a simmering, barely controlled violence that disrupts and distorts all of Shepard's families, that is at the heart of much of his best work. In Shepard's world, romantic love as the meeting of two souls and the family as the nurturing heart of American life are nothing but delusions. "They're wonderful retreats from the illusion of being protected from spinning off the planet. But I don't believe it. And I never did."

So you didn't celebrate Valentine's Day then?

"Oh yes. We just did. I bought her a couple of bottles of wine. I don't drink."

It's not the most romantic gift, I say.

"They were two really good bottles of wine. Really good ones. Oh, and a tape measure. Because she was putting up a painting."

Love in Shepard's universe is never straightforward, never wholly life-enhancing; it's life-destroying, too, a struggle for power or control; a curse as well as a blessing. He and Lange have survived but the relationship was "tumultuous" from the outset. "I mean, we have long periods of relative calm. But then you know..."

But you've always seemed like such an incredible match.

"Yeah, well, we're definitely an incredible match. But, you know, not without fireworks... although at this point, you know, she's the only woman I could live with. Who could live with me! What other woman would put up with me?"

She is, he says, the most honest person he's ever met. "I've never known her, ever, to lie about anything. And I couldn't say that about..."

Yourself?

"About myself. About anybody. Men lie all the time."

Really?

"You don't know that?" he says and raises his eyebrows. "Whereas Jessica has this absolute honesty. I think it's a direct quality of the midwest, of that background that she's from."

While the children were growing up, that's where they lived, in Jessica's hometown in Minnesota, down the road from her mother (and with Jessica's daughter from her relationship with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Shura). It's the equivalent, today, of Brad and Angelina deciding to settle in a suburb of Wisconsin. But then, although Shepard and Lange have both appeared in movies, and been nominated for Oscars – Shepard, one; Lange, six (and she's won two) – they've always refused to be movie stars.

There's a couple of great quotes from Jessica about you, I say.

"Is there? My God. What? Actually, no. Just give me the good ones."

She said: "No man I've ever met compares to Sam in terms of maleness."

"Well, that's a double-edged sword."

Really? I took it as a compliment.

"This morning she had a conversation with me about France, because she was in Paris in the 70s, about the gay scene in Paris, which she was very enchanted with. She was talking about a couple of incidents, and at the end of it I said: 'Well, that's very charming.' And so I think she now thinks I'm a homophobe because she said: 'Asshole!' and stormed out of the room. I thought, 'Oh my God, well obviously I'm not sophisticated enough to talk about the gay 70s in Paris.'"

He was married once before, to another actress, O-Lan Jones. She was 19 at the time, he was 26. Their son, Jesse, was born shortly after the wedding, and then Shepard met Patti Smith. The attraction was instantaneous, as was their affair, an intense, full-throttle romance, conducted mostly at the Chelsea Hotel. It was Shepard who encouraged Patti Smith to become a performer. "She already had this incantatory, lyrical, chanting way of talking, all she needed was a little shove. She was inhibited by not knowing guitar. I said: 'Guitar is just a back-up for your voice. You're not going to be Jeff Beck, don't worry about it. Just learn these chords and you'll be able to back yourself up.' And then it turned out she has this extraordinary voice too."

Reading about the Jones-Shepard-Smith triangle, it all seems very 60s somehow, an amicable bohemian ménage à trois. When I speak to Patti Smith, though, she puts me straight: "It was the early 70s. And it wasn't that amicable."

Shepard had decided to return to his wife and baby. "And it was painful," says Smith. "We knew it was going to end and we were in a room at the Chelsea Hotel. And instead of sitting around and moping, Sam said: 'Let's write a play.' And I said: 'I don't know how to write a play.' And he said: 'I'll be one character, and you can be the other.' And we just sat up all night, him writing a line and then pushing the typewriter across the table to me, and then I'd write a line."

The result was Cowboy Mouth, which opened at the American Place Theatre with Sam Shepard and Patti Smith playing themselves, in a double bill with Shepard's play Back Bog Beast Bait in which O-Lan played a character based on Patti. It was too much, and without warning, Shepard quit, and fled with O-Lan and Jesse to London.

There are so many of these ruptures in the story of your life, I say to Shepard. You're doing one thing and then suddenly you're doing something else.

"I know. I don't why it had to be so traumatic. It very definitely felt like these were earthquakes when they happened. They're terrible and yet on the other side of the coin they're ecstatic. Like when I met Jessie. It was terrible leaving my oldest boy at that time. He was 13, which is a really hard age. And, in one way, I can't forgive myself for that. And, in another way, I'm glad of the life that I've had with Jessie. What's the trade-off? It's always felt like that. The other thing that's kind of amazed me is that I've had absolutely no qualms about setting off into unknown territory. I've never been afraid to just start something new."

It was on the set of the film Frances that he met Lange. I tell him that one critic I read claimed that after meeting Jessica his depiction of male-female relationships became more complex and interesting. He says that you started writing meatier parts for women.

"Hmm. I guess that's true. Fool for Love came out of my relationship with Jessica and that's pretty powerful."

Fool for Love features a tumultuous relationship between two characters, Eddie and May, who both attract and repulse each other. And who, it turns out, are half-brother and sister.

I was looking at photographs of you and Jessica next to each other and I was struck by how similar you look, I say.

"We do, kinda."

Is the theme of incest in Fool for Love in some way borne out of that?

"I'm sure there's something about that. I'm sure when you're looking for someone, you're looking for some aspect of yourself, even if you don't know it... What we're searching for is what we lack. You lack something and your hope is that it'll be fulfilled by who you find."

His relationship with his father has had such a profound effect upon his life, his work, it's inevitable that he must have reflected upon his own effect upon his children, Jesse, 39, Hannah, 24, and Samuel Walker, 22.

He hesitates when he replies. "I would like to think... you can never determine how you are going to influence someone, particularly your children. I mean, they are all musicians in some way or another, so I feel as though... I think that's a result... And my daughter is also a really good writer. Really good."

The thing about your children compared to you, I say, is that they had a very stable...

"Stable?"

Oh, is that the wrong word?

"Well, relatively stable."

They haven't had the childhood that you had...

"They haven't had an abusive childhood. On the other hand, they have a different set of problems."

Having a father who is very successful..."

"And a mother," he says. "Yeah. There's a lot of stigmas. My youngest boy is very, very shy. He doesn't want anything to do with celebrity. And my daughter, she's not crazy about it. None of them covet fame."

He shies away from speaking about his sons but he seems happy enough to talk about Hannah, his daughter, currently studying for a PhD at the University of Galway.

"I never thought about having a daughter and then I had a daughter and it was a remarkable thing. It was very different from having a son and your response to it. With a son, it's much more complex. And it's probably because of my stuff in the past. With a daughter, I was surprised at how simple it is."

It's to her, he says, that he intends to leave his notebooks, "because she's the one who's asked for them."

He's obsessed with his notebooks, he says; they travel with him wherever he goes, "like gremlins". And he fishes his current one out of his coat and shows it to me. On the inside back cover he's written the places it's been to with him over the year – Sicily, Kentucky, New Mexico – and then he flicks through the pages and says, "Look at this! Look at these drawings." And he shows me some stick men, riding the sort of horses I drew aged eight. "You know, I was sitting in the University of Texas where they have the original manuscript of Watt by Mr Beckett and it was amazing because there were all these drawings on them, so I sat there one afternoon and copied them!"

It's almost as if Sam Shepard has spent his life circling around Samuel Beckett. It was discovering his plays as a young man that first inspired him to write, and Patti Smith says that in those days he never went anywhere without a copy of one or other of his plays on him. "Of course, now he's read everything. He's always discovering something new, whether it's Japanese death poetry or some new Venezuelan writer or whatever."

Not meeting Beckett is his greatest regret, he says. "My greatest literary regret."

Do you think you're starting to look like him, I say, tongue-in-cheek, although there's an element of truth to it; he's still recognisable from his cinematic glory days but his face is craggier now, crisscrossed with experience. He guffaws, enjoying the joke.

"No! It'd be flattering if I did but I think my features are a little bit more savage."

Themes of regret and remorse, of time passing and humans ageing have started to creep into his work. "I don't believe people who say, 'I have no regrets'. How can you not have regrets?"

Death, he says, changes all perspectives. When I ask him how old his father was when he died, he replies immediately. "A year older than I am. He was 67."

Does that weigh on you?

"I think about it. But it doesn't weigh on me because of the way in which he died." His father was run down by a car while drunk. "So I don't worry about it that way. I don't worry about the way I'm going to die...

But do you think about death?

"Yeah. There's not a day goes by. But that has always been the case. We're all haunted by it in one way or another. And it's the easiest thing in the world to push it away, you just get a cappuccino. But, yes, you're haunted by it in a different way [as you get older]. I feel its presence. I feel it in sleep, in dreams, in waking. Particularly in the morning."

Do you think about the things that you would lose?

"No. You feel that you're diminishing in some way. You feel that your senses are diminishing. I don't see as well. I'm not as quick as I used to be. Things like that. Knock on wood, I'm not sick. I don't how people deal with that... I mean life is tough enough. And now you're going to die! Wow!"

In Ages of the Moon his central character, Ames, has been unfaithful to his wife. "She discovers this note, this note from this girl, which to this day I cannot for the life of me remember," says Ames. "Some girl I would never in a million years have ever returned to for even a minor blow job."

"Minor?" asks his friend, Byron.

In his earliest plays, Patti Smith says, his characters had to act. "They had to do something, kick a door down or whatever. Now they tend to be more introspective. They're more likely to examine what they're doing and why."

And Shepard too. His life is in his plays, he's always said that. And so I ask him. About Ames's infidelities. About whether that's been a source of regret for him too.

"I'm not going to talk about that. You're not going to sucker me into that one! When did you think I was born?"

Oh dear. It's a classic interview mistake: the question too far. He's amicable enough, and we carry on for five or so more minutes, but I've got the other Sam. He looks the same but I can tell he's scanning the horizon for an escape route; it's Sam Shepard, the cowboy, the character in all his plays; the desert drifter, shifty, cautious, suspicious of strangers. The giggles are over. And then he's gone, with the briefest of handshakes and a rush to the door. It's not an entirely inappropriate ending. Shepard's world is a place of blundering people and blundered words; where plots are never neatly tied up and truths are only ever hinted at, never fully revealed, least of all to the characters themselves.

Day Out of Days is published by Knopf

• Sam Shepard
• Fiction
• Theatre

Carole Cadwalladrguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

For me biggest criteria are:

• Can the plugin compile my scala code?
• How much good Scala code is now red? (If scalac likes the code then it's "good" IMHO)
• How many scala classes and methods are now red in Java and Groovy code?

 

When those are stable then I would like to see Scala move to the full Java feature set. I check out 95% of the releases, I only rate those that I use for at least a day.

 

/jwh

Author: silentguy

Posted: Sat Mar 20, 2010 6:22 pm



I'm pretty certain it's not my virus scanner... I got it under control pretty well...
I think the problem is that my cable modem connection is not 100% stable which leads to some freaky behaviour when my upload spead gets higher (more then just the normal "don't saturate your upload")...
Usually I have that under control as well, but sometimes some connections just die on me, and have to be restarted... Not only in newsbin, happens in other programs as well...

No, we’re not hiring the Hanson brothers to deal with RMT threats. As there is no one better at beating up targets than EVE pilots, we thought we'd enlist your talents in slapping EVE Gate into shape.

As CCP t0rfifrans outlined on his blog introducing Tyrannis, we will be delivering the very first iteration of EVE Gate in the upcoming expansion. It is my task to oversee the technical direction of the Web side of things with EVE Gate, and I wanted to take the opportunity to announce a public “Alpha” test we are planning for EVE Gate and the steps we are taking to make sure we have a very sound foundation to build upon. What we don't want to do is just turn all the traffic completely on the first day and pray it doesn’t break under load. Instead we plan a measured approach that will make sure we have a solid architecture and enough hardware in place.

The process we are following is as follows:

• Develop and prototype an N-Tier web application with scalability in mind from day one (See my first blog on "Cosmos" ) - DONE
• Release and stress an internal alpha to identify and address weakspots - DONE
• Build and utilize load testing and application profiling tools to find and fix bottlenecks - DONE
• Release a public "alpha" stress test to apply real world load to the application to check our hardware needs against estimates and monitor it under real conditions
• Roll out a "beta" launch
• Ramp up to full access in increments

 

On March 23, we will announce access to a public stress test version of EVE Gate which will be connected to Singularity for all of you to log into and look around. What is critical for everyone to understand is that the intent of this test is to stress the underlying hardware and key architectural components. This will allow us to identify and address bottlenecks and weaknesses well before launch and to make sure we have adequate hardware in place for all the pounding you folks will put on it once you are all browsing EVE Gate routinely from work (when your boss isn't looking). We will be watching your comments closely for feedback as well as closely logging and monitoring the behavior of the software and hardware under load. You can help us out greatly just by logging in, browsing around and trying the application out.

It needs to be emphasized that while it gives you an early glimpse at EVE Gate, the primary purpose of this test is a technical one. The features included in the test are still heavily in development and we wanted to get an early version up and available for you to beat up the hardware well in advance. There will be elements that are not yet done or which are presented as a simplified version for testing purposes. To make this clear the application will be labeled the "EVE Gate Alpha Stress Test"; it will be pretty hard to miss. I am not going to go into depth here on the features that will be included; we have an additional Dev Blog that will be presented soon which will focus on the web based functionality which will come with EVE Gate at launch (calendar, mail, contacts, profiles, broadcast logs, etc).

 

 

When EVE Gate does go live with the expansion it will be released as a Beta launch. It will be fully functional and connected to Tranquility for access to production data however it will be a Web site that we will continually modify and enhance. As it is a Web site, we have the benefit of not being tied directly to client releases and can continue to upgrade the site as quickly as we can get improvements completed. Once access is fully ramped up and we are comfortable that it is fully stable and production ready we’ll rip off the Beta stamp.

When I mention an incremental ramp up to full access, what I am describing is a measured increase in the number of players that can access the site when the Beta version goes live. We will do this with a basic signup page on launch day and we will give X number of additional players access each day depending on how things are going. Rather than turning the faucet fully on we are going to open it up a bit, check that all is well, open it up a bit more, etc… until we have it fully open and everyone has access.

Obviously we will open it up as quickly as is feasible as we have a lot more features we want to get to work on (>cough< forums >cough<) but our emphasis is on doing this the right way. Hopefully the ramp up will be quick, and this "Alpha" test I have announced here will play a big part in getting us as much information as possible so we can be ready. The better the info we get out of the "Alpha," the more accurate our hardware setup will be, the quicker we can ramp up full access when we go live.

The team is really looking forward to rolling out EVE Gate for you to use, and we will have greater detail on the features it will include in a future Dev Blog.

 

 

 

• Vmiklos a annonçé le nom de code la prochaine version stable de Frugalware, ce sera Haven. Haven est une planète du cycle de la Fondation d’Asimov (tome 2, Fondation et Empire), dans la version française, son nom est Oasis.
• La roadmap a évidemment été mise à jour.
• Le Kernel 2.6.33 est disponible sur current. Pour les possesseurs de cartes NVIDIA, pensez à lire la news du site officiel.
• Dans la communauté francophone des utilisateurs de Frugalware, le prix Cyrille de la semaine, revient à FredBezies pour ses deux bugs à la c.. L’un des bugs a déjà été corrigé hier, c’était juste un rebuild que j’avais oublié de faire Pour l’autre bug, on soupçonne le driver nvidia, hermier et bouleetbil mènent l’enquête.
• Mono a été mis à jour par Bouleetbil.
• Fin de vie pour Getorin, il est conseillé aux utilisateurs de Frugalware stable de mettre à jour vers Locris s’ils ne l’ont pas encore fait.
• Mise à jour des captures des bureaux GNOME et KDE4 dans la galerie officielle.

A la semaine prochaine !

Billet original de Devil505.Votez pour cet article sur le Planet Libre.

Publication Date: 2010 Mar 17 PMID: 20236542Authors: Moseley, H. N.Journal: BMC BioinformaticsABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Stable isotope tracing with ultra-high resolution Fourier transform-ion cyclotron resonance-mass spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) can provide simultaneous determination of hundreds to thousands of metabolite isotopologue species without the need for chromatographic separation. Therefore, this experimental metabolomics methodology may allow the tracing of metabolic pathways starting from stable-isotope-enriched precursors, which can improve our mechanistic understanding of cellular metabolism. However, contributions to the observed intensities arising from the stable isotopes natural abundance must be subtracted (deisotoped) from the raw isotopologue peaks before interpretation. Previously posed deisotoping problems are sidestepped due to the isotopic resolution and identification of individual isotopologue peaks. This peak resolution and identification come from the very high mass resolution and accuracy of FT-ICR-MS and present an analytically solvable deisotoping problem, even in the context of stable-isotope enrichment. RESULTS: We present both a computationally feasible analytical solution and an algorithm to this newly posed deisotoping problem, which both work with any amount of 13C or 15N stable-isotope enrichment. We demonstrate this algorithm and correct for the effects of 13C natural abundance on a set of raw isotopologue intensities for a specific phosphatidylcholine lipid metabolite derived from a 13C-tracing experiment. CONCLUSIONS: Correction for the effects of 13C natural abundance on a set of raw isotopologue intensities is computationally feasible when the raw isotopologues are isotopically resolved and identified. Such correction makes qualitative interpretation of stable isotope tracing easier and is required before attempting a more rigorous quantitative interpretation of the isotopologue data. The presented implementation is very robust with increasing metabolite size. Error analysis of the algorithm will be straightforward due to low relative error from the implementation itself. Furthermore, the algorithm may serve as an independent quality control measure for a set of observed isotopologue intensities.post to: CiteULike

In the first series of comprehensive performance tests comparing Microsoft's Internet Explorer 9 technical preview, released last week, to stable Web browsers in current use today, Betanews confirmed superb speed gains by the IE9 chassis in specific categories. Not everything in the new IE9 was faster than IE8, but in the computational department, the development team's Chakra JavaScript engine shows much-needed gains. In anticipation of IE9, Betanews has been developing a radically improved set of performance tests to complement those we've used in recent months.

We've seen all sorts of ridiculous claims by performance rights collection societies trying to demand performance rights for things that clearly were not intended as "performances." There was the woman stocking shelves in a store who was singing without paying. There was the owner of a horse stable who played music to her horses. There was the attempt to say that your mobile phone ringing with a ringtone was a public performance. Basically, they're willing to claim just about any music playing is a public performance that requires yet another fee.

Niall.e points us to a legal issue in Europe, where the Irish High Court has asked the European Court of Justice to weigh in on a claim by the Irish collection society Phonographic Performance Ireland Ltd (PPI), which is claiming that music played in hotel rooms for guests requires a performance fee. Yes, you read that right. PPI is claiming that since the hotel provides radios and televisions in the guest rooms, they need to pay a performance right fee on the usage of those devices.

PPI can't honestly believe this is a public performance that deserves a performance right. This is just a blatant money grab to try to force someone else to pay up. What's next? Auto dealers will have to pay a performance fee for having radios installed in cars?

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Tracker est un moteur de recherche local pour votre ordinateur. Il permet d’effectuer des recherches de fichiers, mais aussi dans les fichiers eux même ou encore dans votre courrier électronique.

Ce projet est assez vieux, on parlait de sont inclusion dans le projet Gnome il y à quelques années déjà. Mais à cause de mauvaises performances et d’un développement lent il n’a jamais vraiment pu s’imposer sur le bureau Gnome.

Aujourd’hui c’est d’ailleurs un véritable manque, car aucun réel moteur de recherche n’est implémenté dans Gnome, alors que ce genre de fonctionnalités est maintenant standards ( que ce soit sous KDE, sous Windows Seven ou OSX ).

L’année 2009 à marqué toutefois un réveil du projet, on est ainsi passé de la version 0.5 à 0.7 en un peu plus d’un an et les premiers développements de la nouvelle version 0.8 devraient arriver en 2010.

3 Générations de moteurs de recherches

Pour mieux comprendre la suite de l’article, on va s’arrêter un peu sur les différents types de moteurs de recherches disponibles. Techniquement on peu diviser ces moteurs en 3 générations :

- La première génération ( qui correspond au petit moteur de recherche de fichiers de Gnome ), est un moteur de recherche simple, qui va aller chercher un fichier selon son nom, son type ou sa date de modification. Vous tapez «Â lenomdemonfichier », Et il s’en va le chercher sur votre ordinateur. Dans le meilleur des cas, il est doté d’un cache pour offrir un temps de réponse plus rapide.

Le gros inconvénient de cette première génération, c’est qu’elle est extrêmement limitée. Vous ne pouvez chercher que par le nom du fichier ou son extension. Et si vous ne vous rappelez pas du nom du fichier ou que vous tapez un nom légèrement erroné, vous n’aurez surement aucun résultat pertinent.

De fait ces moteurs de recherches sont peu utilisés. Et on préférera souvent avoir une bonne organisation de l’arborescence des répertoires pour éviter de perdre nos fichiers.

- La seconde génération de moteur de recherche s’est donc attachée à proposer un résultat de recherche un peu plus efficace. Ici il est question de reprendre les fonctionnalités du moteur de 1ere génération, mais en plus de lui permettre d’aller chercher le contenu des informations de chaque fichier ( lorsque c’est pertinent ). Le gros avantage c’est que la recherche devient un peu plus précise. Vous pouvez par exemple facilement retrouver un document texte sur un thème précis, en tapant un mot contenu dans ce document.

Tracker dans sa version stable 0.6.X fait parti des moteurs de seconde génération. Mais la encore la recherche reste peu utile, car le moteur de recherche ne pourra parcourir que le contenu de fichiers lisibles ( documents textes principalement ). Si vous souhaitez chercher d’autres types de documents, comme des images ou des vidéos, vous vous retrouvez donc avec le même problème que le moteur de première génération.

- C’est ici qu’intervient le moteur de recherche de 3éme génération, qui s’appuie sur le bureau sémantique. Le bureau sémantique consiste à construire un réseau d’informations sur l’ensemble des éléments du bureau; que ce soit les médias, les documents, les applications ou tout autre élément pertinent composant l’ordinateur ou son réseau. Pour chaque élément on va garder en base de donnée des informations pertinentes sur son contenu ( par exemple pour une photo l’auteur de la photo, la date de prise, le lieu, la définition... ). Il sera en plus possible d’associer des tags pour chaque élément ( exemple : photos de vacances ), permettant ainsi de regrouper les fichiers sans prendre en compte l’arborescence.

Enfin, pour rendre le système encore plus intelligent,le système créé des liens entre les différents éléments du bureau. Par exemple votre ami «Â Paul » vous envoie les photos de vacances que vous avez passés ensemble. Vous les stockez dans un répertoire. Puis quelques jours plus tard vous souhaitez les voir de nouveau. Il vous suffit de chercher «Â Paul » dans le moteur pour retrouver les fichiers qu’il vous a envoyé. Vous ajoutez le tag «Â Photo de vacances » et elles se retrouveront dans votre gestionnaire de photos dans la bonne catégorie ( si ce dernier supporte Tracker) .

Tracker 0.7 : le renouveau... expérimental.

Pendant l’année 2009, l’équipe de Tracker à décidé, de refondre totalement le projet. L’objectif est de créer un moteur interne performant, standardisé et facile d’utilisation.

Pour ce faire le projet c’est logiquement orienté vers des standards reconnus.

En premier SPARQL, qui est le langage utilisé pour effectuer des requêtes a la base de donnée de Tracker. SPARQL est un standard défini par la W3C, une des briques du futur web sémantique. Il est officiellement devenu une recommandation en janvier 2008 et permet d’effectuer des requêtes intelligentes en relation avec des documents,images, etc.

La seconde technologie qui fait son entrée dans Tracker s’appel NEPOMUK pour «Â Networked Environment for Personalized, Ontology-based Management of Unified Knowledge » ou en français : Environnement réseau pour une gestion ontologique personnalisée de la connaissance unifiée.
C’est ni plus ni moins que le standard défini par un projet Européen pour le bureau sémantique que l’on à vu plus haut.

C’est donc avec la version 0.7.X que ces fonctionnalités ont commencés à faire leurs apparitions. De sorte qu’aujourd’hui Tracker propose un moteur de recherche sémantique «Â simple ». Il manque encore en effet un certain nombre d’éléments comme les liens entre élément, ou plus simplement une meilleure intégration.

Enfin un dernier élément à prendre en compte dans Tracker, s’appel le «Â mineur ». Ce sont des modules qui viennent s’ajouter au moteur principal et qui vont avoir pour rôle d’aller chercher les informations sur des éléments spécifiques. Pour l’instant Tracker dispose de 3 type de «Â mineur » :
- Mineur de fichier, qui va aller chercher la liste des fichiers présents dans votre répertoire personnel et va en extraire le contenu.
- Mineur d’applications, qui récupère le nom et les descriptions des applications présentes sur votre ordinateur
- Le mineur de courrier électronique qui va aller chercher les courrier électronique et leur contenu dans Evolution.

Tracker 0.8 : première version stable

Avec la version 0.8, qui sera la prochaine version stable du moteur et qui devrait officiellement arriver mi 2010, on devrait voir arriver de nouvelles fonctionnalités, notamment de nouveaux mineurs :
- Le mineur rss : qui, comme son nom l’indique, permettra d’aller chercher dans le contenu Rss
- Le mineur internet : qui permettra de garder les informations sur les pages visités et de les retrouver facilement
- D’autres mineurs liéés aux services en lignes (Réseaux sociaux, documents en ligne, etc...)

Enfin le système devrait être encore optimisé vers une meilleure prise en compte des standards de bureau sémantique. Cette version est d’autant plus importante qu’elle pourrait être incluse dans Gnome comme projet officiel. La version 0.7 n’a été accepté qu’a titre de dépendance externe dans gnome 2.30. En cause, l’absence d’une version stable moderne, et le manque de maturité du projet.

Enfin l’équipe de Tracker travail en étroite collaboration avec l’équipe de Zeitgeist. Ce dernier projet permet de garder une trace des actions effectués par l’utilisateur dans le temps, sur les fichiers ou les applications.

Quelques liens :

- Site du projet
- Site du projet sur Gnome
- Blog d’un des développeurs

Billet original de Lemarinel.Votez pour cet article sur le Planet Libre.

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the first beta release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) Desktop, Server, and Netbook editions and of Ubuntu 10.04 Server for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) and Amazon’s EC2. Codenamed "Lucid Lynx", 10.04 LTS continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop and Netbook Editions continue the trend of ever-faster boot speeds, with improved startup times and a streamlined, smoother boot experience.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server Edition provides even better integration of the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, with its install-time cloud setup.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server for UEC and EC2 brings the power and stability of the Ubuntu Server Edition to cloud computing, whether you’re using Amazon EC2 or your own Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

The Ubuntu 10.04 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu, also reach beta status today.

Desktop features
————————

Social from the start: We now feature built-in integration with Twitter, identi.ca, Facebook, and other social networks with the MeMenu in the panel.

New Design: Cleaner and faster boot, new notification area, new themes, new icons, and new wallpaper bring a dramatically updated look and feel to Ubuntu.

Ubuntu One: Choose any folder in your home directory to sync, choose from millions of songs for purchase in the Ubuntu One Music store.

Please see http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/lucid/beta1 for details.

Server features
———————-

Cloud computing: The Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud installer has been vastly improved in order to support alternative installation topologies. UEC components are now automatically discovered and registered, even with complex topologies. Finally, UEC is now powered by Eucalyptus 1.6.2 codebase.

UEC and EC2: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS continues the tradition of official Ubuntu Server image releases for UEC and for Amazon’s EC2, giving you everything you need for rapid deployment of Ubuntu instances in a cloud computing environment. UEC images, and information on running Ubuntu 10.04 on EC2, are available at:

http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/10.04/beta1

Stability and security: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS brings many improvements over Ubuntu 8.04 LTS to keep your servers safe and secure for the next five years, including AppArmor profiles for many key services, kernel hardening, and an easy-to-configure firewall.

Ubuntu Netbook features
———————————-
Ubuntu Netbook Edition is optimised to run on Intel atom based netbooks. It includes a new consumer-friendly interface that allows users to quickly and easily get on-line and use their favourite applications. This interface is optimised for a retail sales environment.

It includes the same faster boot times and improved boot experience as Ubuntu desktop.

Kubuntu features
————————

Kubuntu 10.04 LTS will be the first LTS to feature KDE 4 Platform and Applications. KDE 4 has come a long way since its early releases and is now suitable for the high demands of LTS users. Being an LTS we have focused on bug fixing and stability for this release, but we did find time to add features such as touchpad configuration, Firefox KDE integration, Kubuntu notification improvements, and cross-desktop systray menu standardisation. Kubuntu features the Plasma Desktop while Kubuntu Netbook Remix comes out of preview status with the Plasma Netbook workspace.

See https://wiki.kubuntu.org/LucidLynx/Beta1/Kubuntu for more details.

Edubuntu features
————————-

Edubuntu in Lucid features a more complete live environment containing more software from universe and all existing language packs as well as our usual educational software in their current version. For Lucid the text installer has been removed and so is LTSP for the time being. We expect to have LTSP back on the DVD for the next beta. The DVD is then much smaller than it used to be but will still provide a complete education environment based on Ubuntu Lucid.

Also included on the Edubuntu DVD is a small repository containing the required packages to transform the regular Edubuntu desktop into a LTSP server or install the Netbook edition interface.

Mythbuntu features
—————————

Mythbuntu 10.04 introduces MythTV 0.23. This new version is significantly faster and should feel more responsive and stable than older versions. It also integrates better into the OS with better support for things like ConsoleKit and Upstart.

Please see http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Release_Notes_-_0.23 for more details about changes introduced in 0.23.

See http://mythbuntu.org/10.04/beta for information about the Mythbuntu beta release.

Other
——-

* On the Desktop: GNOME 2.30, KDE SC 4.4, XFCE 4.6.1, OpenOffice.org 3.2.0, X.Org server 1.7.5

* On the Server: Apache 2.2, PostgreSQL 8.4, PHP 5.3.1, LTSP 5.2

* "Under the hood": GCC 4.4.3, eglibc 2.11, Linux 2.6.32.9, Python 2.6.5

The full release notes can be found at
http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/karmic/beta1

About Ubuntu
——————

Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, and servers, with a fast and easy installation and regular releases. A tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included, and an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.

Professional technical support is available from Canonical Limited and hundreds of other companies around the world. For more information about support, visit http://www.ubuntu.com/support

To Get Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1
———————————————

To upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1 from Ubuntu 9.10 or Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, follow these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LucidUpgrades

Or, download Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1 here (choose the mirror closest to you):

Africa:

* http://ubuntu.saix.net/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (South Africa)

Asia:

* http://mirror.rootguide.org/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (China)
* http://ubuntutym2.u-toyama.ac.jp/ubuntu/10.04 (Japan)
* http://mirror.khlug.org/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Korea, Republic of)
* http://ubuntu.qualitynet.net/releases/10.04 (Kuwait)
* http://ftp.mtu.ru/pub/ubuntu/releases/10.04 (Russian Federation)
* http://tw.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Taiwan)
* http://ftp.linux.org.tr/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Turkey)

Europe:

* http://ubuntu.linuxbe.com/10.04 (Belgium)
* http://ubuntu.ipacct.com/releases/10.04 (Bulgaria)
* http://hr.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Croatia)
* http://releases.ubuntu.mirror.dkm.cz/releases/10.04 (Czech Republic)
* http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/ubuntu-cd/10.04 (Denmark)
* http://ftp.estpak.ee/pub/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Estonia)
* http://ubuntu.trumpetti.atm.tut.fi/releases/10.04 (Finland)
* http://ftp.oleane.net/ubuntu-cd/10.04 (France)
* http://ubuntu.mirror.tudos.de/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Germany)
* http://speglar.simnet.is/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Iceland)
* http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Ireland)
* http://releases.ubuntu.fastbull.org/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Italy)
* http://nl.releases.ubuntu.com/releases/10.04 (Netherlands)
* http://no.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Norway)
* http://cesium.di.uminho.pt/pub/ubuntu/10.04 (Portugal)
* http://rs.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Serbia)
* http://ubuntu.cica.es/releases/10.04 (Spain)
* http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Sweden)

North America:

* http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Canada)
* http://mirror.pnl.gov/releases/10.04 (United States)
* http://mirror.yellowfiber.net/ubuntu/10.04 (United States)
* http://mirrors.ccs.neu.edu/releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (United States)
* http://mirrors.gigenet.com/ubuntu/10.04 (United States)

South America:

* http://ubuntu-cd.innova-red.net/10.04 (Argentina)
* http://mirror.pop-sc.rnp.br/mirror/ubuntu/10.04 (Brazil)
* http://ubuntu.c3sl.ufpr.br/releases/10.04 (Brazil)

Rest of the world:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Great Britain)

Please download using Bittorrent if possible.

The final version of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is expected to be released in April 2010.

Feedback and Participation
—————————————

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at

http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/

Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help turn this Beta into the best release of Ubuntu ever. Please note that, where possible, we prefer that bugs be reported using the tools provided, rather than by visiting Launchpad directly. Instructions can be found at

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but are not sure, first try asking on the #ubuntu IRC channel on FreeNode, on the Ubuntu Users mailing list, or on the Ubuntu forums:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/

More Information
————————

You can find out more about Ubuntu and about this preview release on our website, IRC channel and wiki. If you are new to Ubuntu, please visit:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

To sign up for future Ubuntu announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu’s very low volume announcement list at:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-announce

[Discuss Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Beta 1 on the Forum]

Originally sent to the ubuntu-announce mailing list by Steve Langasek on Fri Mar 19 16:32:05 GMT 2010

En bricolant ces derniers jours sur mon serveur à domicile, j'ai pris conscience que ce que j'appelle la vieillesse de debian lenny présente au moins un intérêt colossal : la pérennité de la documentation pendant au moins deux ans. On réalise en effet que maintenir le wiki Ubuntu par exemple c'est un peu le travail de Sisyphe, vous savez ce grand gars costaud qui faisait remonter un rocher de façon éternelle au sommet de la montagne, ici c'est un peu pareil. Sans considérer que tous les six mois, la documentation intégrale parte à la poubelle et qu'il faille tout recommencer, même si la trame de fond reste la même, une quantité de modifications infinitésimales tout le long du document en fait un travail de titan qui découragerait plus d'un personnage de la mythologie grecque.

Avec debian une documentation de qualité est posée pour deux ans, et finalement tout le monde y trouve son compte. Celui qui écrit, celui qui lit et qui l'applique, si bien sûr on s'affranchit de la soif de nouveauté logicielle. On peut donc sans surprise comprendre pourquoi une grosse partie des serveurs tournent sur debian. Peut on envisager pour autant une utilisation de debian en tant que client ? Si à un moment donné je me suis interrogé sur une migration de ma salle informatique sur des Ubuntu en LXDE, je réalise aujourd'hui que s'il fallait faire des mises à jour tous les six mois, je n'y arriverai pas. Les outils présents sous debian Lenny permettent à mes élèves de réaliser l'intégralité de leurs travaux informatiques, de valider les acquis du b2i, de rédiger leurs rapports de stage et moi ça me permet de respirer, de consolider et d'affiner.

A domicile, après avoir longtemps cru en Fedora et son aspect pseudo rolling release qui m'apparaissait séduisante, je réalise qu'Ubuntu est vraiment la distribution du bon compromis si on ferme les yeux sur les chemins glissants qu'emprunte Mark Shuttleworth. Fedora et la configuration pénible de SELinux, Fedora et ma carte Radeon, Fedora et l'installation d'une imprimante samba où il faut déclarer le user et modifier le pare-feu, j'en passe. Je pourrai parler de Frugalware aussi, je vois d'ailleurs que Frédéric lutte avec des bugs dans son dernier billet, d'autres distributions plus ou moins complexes ou aussi faciles qu'Ubuntu, mais l'envie n'est plus là, perdue dans le temps qui file. Comme dans l'intitulé référence aux aventures d'un AL Bundy qui passerait moins de temps devant la télé, je peine déjà à trouver le temps pour utiliser les logiciels, alors vous comprenez bien que batailler pour configurer le système d'exploitation, je passe largement mon tour. Ubuntu ça vaut ce que ça vaut, ça a le mérite de marcher, d'être assez riche en paquets, de pouvoir démolir sa distribution avec de nombreux ppa, etc ...

En conclusion. Que choisit l'homme marié, actif, pressé, "paternisé" de 35 ans qui administre plusieurs dizaines de machines dont au moins 25 Linux dans un petit Lycée agricole du Cantal.

• pour le pédagogique, debian sans conteste, car comme le disait Jack Lang ou Félix Gray et Didier Barbelivien vous rayerez la mention inutile, il faut laisser le temps au temps. Debian c'est bien pour les solutions durables, c'est bien parce que ça laisse le temps de planifier les choses, c'est bien parce que c'est fiable, et c'est aussi bien parce que c'est Linux et que même si j'ai des soucis parfois avec les imprimantes, et bien le souvenir de la salle informatique à mon arrivée sous Windows 98 me confirme que j'ai pris la bonne décision.
• pour le pédagogique si j'avais de très vieilles machines, sans conteste toutoulinux l'adaptation française de puppy linux. De plus en plus beau, toujours aussi léger, toujours aussi riche. L'idée serait bien évidemment d'équiper les écoles souvent mal fournies, même si ça change, mais on se rend compte que pas mal d'instits sont accrocs à leurs vieux logiciels pédagogiques Windows.
• pour le pédagogique côté pare-feu / proxy : Ipfire. Même si effectivement c'est mal de mélanger le pare-feu et le proxy, si je devais poser dans un établissement scolaire une solution radicale pour éradiquer la plaie facebook des heures de cours, c'est réalisé de façon très complète en trente minutes. Les différentes solutions proposées sont certainement intéressantes, mais je me suis tellement habitué à Ipcop et donc son descendant Ipfire avec les années et ça marche tellement bien, que je n'ai pas encore trouvé la nécessité d'aller voir
• A domicile, Ubuntu version stable. Fini le temps de la rigolade avec les versions alpha. Alors certes, je me coupe de l'utilisation par exemple de la dernière version de 2ManDVD qui utilise les librairies qt supérieures à Karmic que je trouverai dans Lucid au mois d'avril, mais ça me laisse le temps d'écrire autre chose et quand viendra le moment, je refondrai l'intégralité de la documentation.
• En nomade Ubuntu Netbook Remix, du Ubuntu avec une interface vraiment efficace, l'une des plus belles réussites de Canonical.
• Pour mon serveur de test, debian lenny, pour les raisons exposées plus haut.

Gens du planet-libre, je réalise à travers les différents échanges, qu'à mon âge, je commence à entrer dans la catégorie des dinosaures. La moyenne d'âge dans les salons jabber du planet-libre ou même de frugalware est atrocement basse et je peux comprendre que le message ne touchera pas nécessairement tout le monde. Gardez toutefois dans un coin de l'esprit la parole Bornienne. Un jour vous regretterez peut être le temps où vous aviez autant d'heures libres que de boutons dans la figure, vous penserez peut être à celui qui sera encore en train d'écrire à la retraite au pied d'un châtaigner, quand vous serez écartelé entre le travail, les gamins qui vomissent, votre vie sociale et le reste, quand vous verrez votre temps libre se réduire à une peau de chagrin, alors viendra aussi pour vous le temps des choix et des compromis.

Billet original de Cyrille BORNE.Votez pour cet article sur le Planet Libre.

Back in January, Google announced that it would follow Mozilla’s lead and start offering cash bounties for bugs found in the code of Chromium (the open-source browser behind Chrome), or Chrome by the community. Google both matches Mozilla’s $500 and ups the bounty all the way up to $1,337 (yes, 1337) for “particularly severe or particularly clever” bugs. This week, they rewarded the first of those.

As noted on the Chrome Release blog, Google made four cash payments on Wednesday. There were two $500 prizes (both for memory errors), one $1,000 prize (for a cross-orgin bypass), and the first-ever $1,337 prize. The lucky receipient of that was a man named Sergey Glazunov, who located a bug that Google is calling, “High Integer overflows in WebKit JavaScript objects.”

This crowd-sourced bug hunting seems like a great idea, especially for a browser moving through development as quickly as Chrome. Chrome has only existed for a year and a half and already they’re testing version 5.0. Stable builds of both the Mac and Linux version of the browser are likely to launch at some point over the next few months.

CrunchBase InformationGoogle ChromeInformation provided by CrunchBase

Filed under: Features, Mozilla, Browsers

Sebastian is out stomping the fjords in Norway -- true story! -- so I'll be your humble replacement columnist this week. Fortunately, I 'm inheriting a pretty easy job, because there's plenty of interesting Firefox news to discuss today.Just pretend I'm writing all of this in my poor approximation of a British accent, and Seb will be back before you know it.

Okay, here goes ...

1. The Contacts Add-on

I wrote about this on Download Squad earlier in the week, but it's worth mentioning here, too. Mozilla has a created a browser-wide contacts extension that syncs with your address books and social sites. Why is it cool? Well, how does having access to your contacts on any website grab you? How about browser-wide email autocomplete? Mozilla's new Contacts add-on is a pretty sweet deal, and you can grab a preliminary version now.

2. Mozilla escalates the HTML5 open video battle

As you may know, Mozilla has taken Firefox down the path of open HTML5 video, but in a different direction than Webkit browsers like Safari and Chrome are headed. Instead of the H.264 video format, Mozilla is backing OGG Theora. This is both more open (because H.264 is proprietary, and Theora's open source) and cheaper for Mozilla (because it avoids H.264 licensing fees).

Who the heck uses Theora for HTML5 video, though? Well, starting this week, Wikipedia does. It's not exactly YouTube, but it's good news for Firefox fans that one of the most popular (and most democratic) sites on the web has endorsed Mozilla's video format of choice.
Share 3. The End of Firefox 3.0!

It's been a good run, Firefox 3.0, but it's time to let go. The final security and stability update ever for FF3.0, version 3.0.19, will come out on March 30. Considering how long 3.5 has been stable, and how much progress 3.6 and even 4.0 have made, it's about time everybody moved on up from 3.0. This quick update cycle is why we love Firefox, though! Look how long it took Microsoft to stop supporting IE6. Feel free to point, laugh and gloat.

4. Mozilla testing awesome Account Manager

Last week, Lee checked out an experimental login manager add-on for Firefox that makes logging in and out of websites a snap. It's not quite ready yet -- it worked for Lee on Facebook, but not Google -- but when this thing gets up to speed, it'll be a big boost to both security and user experience. Knowing at a glance whether you're logged in to the webpage you're visiting? Yes, please!

5. Hey, remember those Firefox icons?

Last time I wrote this column, I put out a call for your Firefox icons, and you came through! Sebastian never got around to posting them, though, so I'm taking this opportunity to present some of the coolest submissions here. Thanks to everyone who left a comment.




And, to the guy who sent in the Opera icon, ha ha, very funny.


That's the Five for this week, foxy boys and girls! Have a good weekend, and look forward to the return of everybody's favorite sassy Brit, Sebastian, either next week or the week after.

Firefox Friday Five - bringing a little fire to your weekend! originally appeared on Download Squad on Fri, 19 Mar 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | Email this | Comments



Microsoft - Firefox 3.0 - Google - YouTube - Facebook

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Google Apps for business has a number of benefits over traditional business IT and desktop software. Using the full suite essentially places all of your data and entire workflow in the cloud, meaning you can access it all anywhere, any time, from any Internet connection.

At $50 per year per user, the fully integrated apps system is certainly cost-effective, and even adding the free versions of Gmail, Calendar, and Google Docs into your workflow can keep your employees coordinated.

For more casual users, or even those who might not be acquainted with Google Apps, here’s a guide to how the software can benefit your small business.

Gmail

The many advanced features of Gmail really make it a leap forward in the web-based e-mail space, and a lot of these are ideal for business.

If you’re not ready to take the full plunge into the paid Google Apps suite, you can still configure Gmail to function as your business e-mail client through your existing domain name by following the steps outlined in my post, “How to Set Up Gmail as Your Business E-mail Client.”

The first big advantage of Gmail, like all the apps discussed here, is that it functions in the cloud. You don’t have to worry about downloading messages to multiple locations or syncing various devices. Your inbox will look the same from any web or mobile connection. And with 25 gigs of e-mail storage per user (with a paid apps account), it’s unlikely you’ll ever have to clean your inbox or delete old messages.

Gmail works a bit differently than traditional desktop clients and webmail services in that conversations are “threaded.” This means that e-mails with the same or related subject lines are grouped together in a thread so you can see all the messages sent and received on a topic in one place. When a new message is received, the entire thread is bumped to the top of your inbox, making tracking complex and multi-party conversations easy.

Gmail also has a chat feature built right into the interface that lets you send a quick update or discuss a project with an employee if you’re not in the same office. Chats are also stored in Gmail so that you can search and refer to them later.

Google search, the asset that started it all for the company, is of course built right into Gmail, which makes finding information from e-mail conversations (even very old ones) extremely efficient.

Additionally, Gmail Labs offers some extra settings for your inbox that can be extremely valuable for business use:

• Signature Tweaks puts your e-mail signature before the quoted text in a reply the way that Outlook would.
• Default ‘Reply to All’ allows you to reply to group e-mails with one click, instead of from a drop-down menu.
• Forgotten Attachment Detector will notify you if you’ve mentioned an attachment in an e-mail, but forgotten to add one.
• Undo Send gives you a few seconds after sending a message to click “undo” in case you forgot something, or sent it to the wrong party by mistake.
• Title Tweaks is a great feature that puts your unread message count first in the title of the inbox web page. If you have many windows open while you’re working, you’ll still be able to see when new messages arrive.

Google Docs

Google Docs is a web-based suite for word processing, presentation building (similar to PowerPoint), spreadsheets, and web forms. All the work is done in a web browser, and all the data is saved in the cloud.

The software can be a bit quirky at times, which may frustrate users of more stable products like Microsoft Office, but the payoff in online storage, shareability, and collaboration options may be worth the adjustment for many small businesses.

Because the data is online, streamlined document sharing and collaboration are big perks with Google Docs. Any file you’re working on can be shared with individual team members, or the entire group within the apps system. You can also set permissions for specific users to view and edit documents. And, multiple users can simultaneously view and edit documents, which can be useful for real-time collaborative projects or presentations during conference calls. You can also grant permission for those outside your office network to view and edit documents, which can be especially useful for sharing information and presentations with clients or colleagues.

As you create and share documents, your Google Docs dashboard may start to get a little messy. Be sure to create folders to keep your work organized just as you would on your desktop. You can also share entire folders if you need to collaborate on multiple documents related to the same project.

Calendar

Google Calendar provides an efficient and intuitive way to keep appointments and events synced across your entire business. With calendar sharing and permissions (similar to those in Docs), you can add other employees’ calendars to your own, and vice versa, in order to see and manage the big picture of your team’s time.

For example, if an executive has an assistant, their calendars may be shared so that the assistant could manage his boss’s appointments remotely from his own account. It’s also a smart tool for coordinating meetings, calls, and shift staffing for multiple employees to avoid scheduling conflicts. Sharing multiple calendars with one “master calendar” creates a color-coded scheduling table for the coordinator that updates automatically when users make changes or additions.

The Calendar app can also be used to create events through Gmail. By adding your employees’ e-mail addresses to an event, they will receive an invitation to respond. Responding ‘yes’ automatically adds a shared event to your calendar that each invitee can view and add notes to. It’s a smart way to coordinate meetings and keep everyone in the loop.

Google Sites

Google Sites is a drag-and-drop web development tool that you can use within your business’s apps to create online information hubs for employees. The websites you create exist within your Google Apps domain, can be public or private, and permissions for employees to add, change, and contribute information can be set from the main account.

Beyond simply being a WYSIWYG web editor, Sites makes it easy to integrate data from other Google Apps into dynamic pages that team members can use to collaborate on projects. Integrating spreadsheets or data charts from Docs, a deadline schedule from Calendar, and team-specific messages from Gmail could essentially create a one-stop project dashboard full of dynamically updating information.

Sites here can be purely functional or informational, or with the aid of some built-in templates or a good designer, a full-fledged dynamic public website for your business that team members have easy access to.

Google Groups

Google Groups have long been public forums where users across the web gather to discuss specific interests or get technical support. Groups for business brings that same functionality into your private internal network.

E-mail can sometimes be cumbersome when coordinating a team. When you need a central space to collect ideas and share documents (but you’re not interested in building a web page in Sites), Groups offers a solution.

Employees can create discussion groups on their own and subscribe, either by e-mail or via a Groups dashboard, which lists new posts like a news reader.

Rather than e-mails going out to individual inboxes, a group thread remains visible to all of your subscribed team members, and users can go back to it for reference, to add more information, and even share docs and calendars.

Using Groups for business discussions and project management creates a communal and searchable database of information that employees can go back to whenever needed.

Google Apps Marketplace

Google’s recently launched Google Apps Marketplace allows developers of other business web apps to integrate their offerings with Google and sell software directly to Google Apps users. The marketplace currently has over 50 partners, including Intuit, Zoho, and Aviary. This additional space for third-party software means that Apps users will have even more options to tailor their suite for specific business purposes.

Smart Integration Across the Board

While each app has worthwhile features, perhaps one of the best advantages is the way that they all integrate with one another. Documents and appointments can be easily shared via e-mail, and your inbox can be used as a portal for productivity via embeddable widgets, chat, and other notifications.

If your small business is ready for a web-based, collaboration-minded IT solution, Google Apps is certainly a cost-effective way to go, and you can investigate the free versions simply by signing up for a Gmail account to determine if the suite is right for your workflow.

More business resources from Mashable:

- HOW TO: Choose a News Reader for Keeping Tabs on Your Industry
- 4 Elements of a Successful Business Web Presence
- HOW TO: Implement a Social Media Business Strategy
- HOW TO: Measure Social Media ROI
- HOW TO: Use Social Media to Connect with Other Entrepreneurs

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, CostinT

Tags: business, gmail, Google, google apps, Google Calendar, google docs, google labs, List, Lists, productivity, small business

Le marché parisien a mis fin à deux semaines consécutives de progression ce vendredi...

Depuis que les sources de l'émulateur Dolphin sont ouvertes au public, l'équipe qui s'occupe du projet a beaucoup travaillé pour améliorer la stabilité. Avant de sortir une édition 2 considérée comme stable, une mouture Release Candidate est fournie aux testeurs fidèles qui pourront l'éprouver et ainsi reporter d'éventuels problèmes. Si vous êtes sous Windows ou Mac OS X, vous pouvez télécharger un fichier d'installation sur le site officiel.

F-Zero GX jouable sur Dolphin

     Pour la deuxième année consécutive, la SCAM (Société civile des auteurs multimédia) publie un état des lieux des relations entre auteurs et éditeurs, une semaine avant l’ouverture de la chasse (la Salon du livre de Paris, en pleine débandade pour ses 30 ans). Cette étudequi se présente comme un baromètre indiquant la température actuelle du couple (de l’eau dans le gaz ?) est sous-titré «Â Les bons comptes feraient les bons amis ». Demandez le programme... 500 écrivains ont répondu au questionnaire de la SCAM qui représente un grand nombre de créateurs (écrivains, réalisateurs, traducteurs, journalistes, photographes, dessinateurs) auprès du législateur, des producteurs et des diffuseurs. Etat des lieux et conclusions : 

 - 75 % des auteurs perçoivent entre 5 % et 12 % du prix de vente, ils étaient 70 % l’année dernière ; mais cette augmentation est due à une baisse du nombre d’auteurs percevantplus de 12 % du prix de vente - Si 68 % des contrats comportent un à-valoir (proportion en légère augmentation), l’écart entre les montants se creuse. Ainsi, les à-valoir supérieurs à 3 000 euros représentent 37 % des cas (32 % en 2009), et les à-valoir inférieurs à 1 500 euros représentent désormais 30 % (25 % en 2009).

- De manière stable d’une année à l’autre, 96 % des auteurs négocient seul leur contrat d’édition et un sur trois ne pense pas qu’un agent littéraire l’aiderait à mieux négocier ; dans 58 % des cas, l’éditeur a fait signer un contrat d’adaptation audiovisuelle. - Un auteur sur deux ne négocie pas le taux proposé par l’éditeur (proportion stable). 46 % des éditeurs respectent l’obligation légale de la reddition des comptes* (49% en 2009). 18 % ne la respectent jamais (16 % en 2009). · Un quart des auteurs interrogés a eu connaissance d’exploitation de ses livres à l’étranger sans en avoir été informé par l’éditeur.

· 28 % n’ont pas été informés de la mise au pilon d’un ou plusieurs de leur(s) livre(s).

· 30 % des auteurs ne reçoivent pas de droits à l’occasion d’une adaptation audiovisuelle ou d’une exploitation de leurs livres à l’étranger.

 - 69 % des auteurs se déclarent satisfaits des relations avec leurs éditeurs (ils étaient 60% l’année dernière). 31 % se disent insatisfaits, parmi eux 6 % déclarent même ces relations conflictuelles (9 % en 2009). Cependant, cette satisfaction globale est à pondérer selon la nature du travail ; les évaluations varient considérablement. Si les relations et le travail en amont de la création sont plutôt bien notés, en revanche en aval, lorsque les livres sont imprimés, qu’ils arrivent dans les librairies et que commence le travail d’exploitation commerciale et de communication, les notes s’effondrent.

 

Actarus sort une nouvelle version d'iDeaS qui n'a plus le statut de bêta et semble doit plus stable que la précédente. Le programme émule la plupart des jeux DS et avec une qualité suffisante pour qu'ils soient jouables.

Meteos
- Correction de bogues dans le registre HALTCNT et les routines du Bios.
- Correction d'un problème de chargement d'un firmware externe.
- Correction d'un problème de chargement de jeux.
- Correction d'un bogue dans la gestion des plugins.
- Correction d'un bogue (ARM7 & ARM9) pour les opcodes qui utilise le registre du PC.
- Correction de bogues dans les fenêtres du débogueur et de la mémoire.
- Ajout de messages sur la console pour les mémoires Flash et Firmware.

Publication Date: 2010 Mar 16 PMID: 20233439Authors: Vandermeeren, Y. - Jamart, J. - Ossemann, M.Journal: BMC NeurosciABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is used in human physiological studies and for therapeutic trials in patients with abnormalities of cortical excitability. Its safety profile places tDCS in the pole-position for translating in real-world therapeutic application. However, an episode of transient respiratory depression in a subject receiving tDCS with an extracephalic electrode led to the suggestion that such an electrode montage could modulate the brainstem autonomic centres. We investigated whether tDCS applied over the midline frontal cortex in 30 healthy volunteers (sham n=10, cathodal n=10, anodal n=10) with an extracephalic reference electrode would modulate brainstem activity as reflected by the monitoring and stringent analysis of vital parameters: heart rate (variability), respiratory rate, blood pressure and sympatho-vagal balance. We reasoned that this study could lead to two opposite but equally interesting outcomes: 1) If tDCS with an extracephalic electrode modulated vital parameters, it could be used as a new tool to explore the autonomic nervous system and, even, to modulate its activity for therapeutic purposes. 2) On the opposite, if applying tDCS with an extracephalic electrode had no effect, it could thus be used safely in healthy human subjects. This outcome would significantly impact the field of non-invasive brain stimulation with tDCS. Indeed, on the one hand, using an extracephalic electrode as a genuine neutral reference (as opposed to the classical "bi-cephalic" tDCS montages which deliver bi-polar stimulation of the brain) would help to comfort the conclusions of several modern studies regarding the spatial location and polarity of tDCS. On the other hand, using an extracephalic reference electrode may impact differently on a given cortical target due to the change of direct current flow direction; this may enlarge the potential interventions with tDCS. RESULTS: Whereas the respiratory frequency decreased mildly over time and the blood pressure increased steadily, there was no differential impact of real versus sham tDCS. The heart rate remained stable during the monitoring period. The parameters reflecting the sympathovagal balance suggested a progressive shift over time favouring the sympathetic tone, again without differential impact of real versus sham tDCS. CONCLUSIONS: Applying tDCS with an extracephalic reference electrode in healthy volunteers did not significantly modulate the activity of the brainstem autonomic centres. Therefore, using an extracephalic reference electrode for tDCS appears safe in healthy volunteers, at least under similar experimental conditions.post to: CiteULike